Sri Lanka greets Donald Trump on his historic win

President Maithripala Sirisena today greeted US President elect Donald Trump on his historic win at the US Presidential elections.President Sirisena said the United States is the adopted home for a significant number of Sri Lankans and they serve as important agents to forge stronger people-to-people bonds, contributing in no small measure to the bilateral relationship between our two countries. He said the election showed the American public chose a businessman and not a politician as their new President as they wanted a change.Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Trump’s victory is a testament to the fact that love for one’s country is indeed what’s most important. “Your presidential election campaign was followed closely throughout the world because the issues you fought the election on resonated far beyond the borders of the USA. With your election as President of the United States, we look forward to a new world order based on the principles of the sovereign equality of all nations and non-interference in the internal affairs of nation states,” Rajapaksa said.Rajapaksa recalled the cooperation extended to Sri Lanka by the previous Republican administration especially in the spheres of diplomacy and intelligence which helped his Government to conclusively defeat the LTTE which in 2008 had been designated by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation as the deadliest terrorist organization in the world outranking even Al Qaeda. (Colombo Gazette) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that Sri Lanka hopes to further strengthen ties with the US following Trump’s win at the election. “Sri Lanka and the United States are bound by deeply rooted and longstanding democratic traditions and common values. Relations between our two countries have been strengthened since my election as President in January 2015 and the formation of a National Unity Government in Sri Lanka. My Government and I take pride that the bonds between our two countries have grown stronger, and I am confident that your election will help build on this existing close partnership to further expand our cooperation,” he said.